Posted by Matt Raschke
a resident of The Crossings
on Mar 12, 2009 at 9:18 pm

I am also glad we are speaking up to be considered for a station. A stop in Mountain View does make sense due to the light rail connection.

I don't think a tunnel will be economically feasible. Maybe if it was just the HST. But the existing right-of-way needs to support off-peak freight traffic. I don't see that working very well in a tunnel. I think it would be more feasible to encase the HST in an above-ground enclosure on top of its "wall". That may help mitigate the sound. Living relatively close to the tracks, I'm worried about the vibration and the sound. Those are the impacts that I expect to see analyzed in the EIR.

I actually didn't vote for this Proposition, but I'm happy to support it now that it is moving forward. (Kind of the opposite of our friends in Palo Alto.)

Posted by Palo Alto Resident
a resident of another community
on Mar 13, 2009 at 10:57 am

I also find it humorous that as your beloved Mountain View school district lays off people due to budget cuts the City Council chooses toy spend money for the sake of "studying" the HSR project that has no money.

You best save your schools and your children's education.

LOL! I get a kick out of how lopsided Mountain View people can be. Your priorities are clearly in favor of getting a station on a project that may not happen, rather than maintaining the quality of your children's education today.

Posted by Mountain Viewer
a resident of Shoreline West
on Mar 13, 2009 at 12:10 pm

LOLz Palo Alto Resident. You're so way smarter than us hilarious Mountain Viewers. So glad we're here for your amusement. Now that you've had your fun, why don't you go run off to the Palo Altans-only Foothills Park where you can take a break from our silly Mountain View shenanigans.

Okay, all kidding aside, I'm all for reasonable conversation about the pros and cons of high speed rail but if you're just going to come on here with a snotty attitude, you're not going to be taken very seriously.

I, for one, am glad our council is not having a knee-jerk reaction to this and is willing to see the station-option studied. Key word - studied. I'll withold judgement on whether I support it until I get a beter idea of what it means for our Downtown.

Posted by Palo Alto resident
a resident of another community
on Mar 13, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Mountain Viewer, I'm not trying to be snotty. I just think it's kinda sad that you folks don't have all the information. I posted the link to the Weekly article showing HSR has run out of money, and the Voice has done nothing to inform you readers of it.

I think it's sad that the district, Los Altos is also laying off teachers while this ridiculous high speed rail gets so much attention and whooplah. Palo Alto school districts have also suffered from budget cuts and no one in Palo Alto favors this high speed rail as we watch our schools rapidly deteriorating.

Palo Alto Resident, it seems like your confused about where the money for this study is coming from. It isn't coming from Mountain View's budget, it's going to come out of the HSR budget, to be paid for with the bonds that were approved by the electorate. That bond money isn't available for putting into schools, prisons, off-shore drilling, or anything else that anybody might personally think is more worthwhile than the HSR.

Posted by eric
a resident of another community
on Mar 13, 2009 at 3:33 pm

PA Resident, its a shame that you either didnt read or didnt understand the article you linked. The HSR is low on funds, as is every other infrastructure project in the state. Do you think that there will never be another highway overpass built in CA again? HSR is-- as your article mentioned-- much more likely to recieve prompt additional funding than most, and may even get some federal monies, from what I understand.

The State of CA money is hardly in 'one bucket' as you erroneously claim-- quite the opposite, actually. A little homework on state funding, please, before you next comment here.

"no one in Palo Alto favors this high speed rail". "LOL! I get a kick out of how lopsided Mountain View people can be"-- the humor in both those statements coming from the same person speaks for itself.

Nice to hear that you see humor in teacher layoffs, by the way.

I do not support HSR on the Peninsula either, by the way, but if you are going to argue a case, please know the facts.

Posted by That Guy
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Mar 13, 2009 at 3:51 pm

PA Resident says, "I'm not trying to be snotty."

Well don't you find it odd that most of the Mtn. View residents on this board feel that you were in your comments? It's in your language. You're not going to convince anyone of anything when you're looking down at them while making your case. Mtn. View simply isn't as freaked out by HSR as Palo Alto is. No need to try to change our minds, that's why you live there and we live here.

Posted by Mr. Big
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Mar 15, 2009 at 2:47 am

Go HSR!
It will happen, the whole state voted to spend big bucks on funding the early stages. If you were against the bill, too bad, you lost.

There is going to be a stop between SJ and SF, I say let it be here in our city.

PA doesn't make sense, the area around University Ave is too congested. Downtown MV has the space with some probable use of the Central Expressway right of way and building an underpass for Castro Street. Redwood City has the space but not the Light Rail or Major Highway Interchanges that we have in our city.

No need to feel bated by "Palo Alto resident," whose "LOLs" are better suited for a 14-year-old's blog than for Town Square.

This is an important issue, however, and so to keep things moving I've altered this comment thread so that posters must be logged in to post. Logging in is easy to do and gives your posts an extra prominence (and keeps out the riffraff). Also, note that you do not have to use your real name in the public part of Town Square -- we ask that you do provide your real name as part of the sign-up process, but you can create a "handle" for public display.